


Mandragora

by melpomeni_mandy



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Drabble, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-27 17:12:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12586708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melpomeni_mandy/pseuds/melpomeni_mandy
Summary: Aymeric returns to Borel Manor to find an unexpected visitor waiting for him.





	Mandragora

He felt resistance the moment he opened the door to enter his personal chambers for the night. It was as if something had caught along the bottom, dragging along the floor as he forced the door ajar; indeed it was something, not one of his belongings but a coiled up scarf made of fine Ishgardian wool.

The sight bewildered him, if only for a moment, before he caught sight of yet even more discarded clothing across the carpeted and wooden flooring. They made a kind of winding path across the room towards the opposite end near the fireplace: a pair of discarded boots, a cloak haphazardly tossed upon a reading chair, and a heavily-mended and well worn padded dress meant for travelling in a bunched up heap at the foot of the bed. And there, still half-dressed with a leg dangling over the edge of it was Ahlis. She was fast asleep as a book lay open upon her chest, her body partially propped up from all the pillows she has stolen from both sides of the bed. The flames which still burned strong in the fireplace filled the room as well as softening her profile in a warm, lovely glow.

His heart warmed at the sight of seeing her in such a comfortable repose that any puzzlement from before dissipated into a welcoming acceptance. Aymeric was unused to sharing company in his room, or anywhere in his entire estate for that matter. He rarely enjoyed any modicum of normalcy within Borel Manor to begin with as his duties kept him nestled in the congregation for the majority of his waking, and sleeping, hours. He hardly minded it; in fact he reveled in his work to be the lord commander and leader his city deserved. And yet, in such moments as these where he found himself slowly picking up after his companion’s untidy disregard for her clothing the notion of him returning home where someone besides the estate staff was there to greet him…

Ahlis shifted slightly in her sleep, her breathing still deep and steady yet he felt she’d awaken at any moment. Aymeric moved across the bed chamber as steadily as silence would allow and settled her boots, her scarf and her cloak neatly into place before moving closer where she lay. It was easy to become lost in his thoughts, now that he had taken a brief moment to watch her sleep, to rest in a calm repose he never witnessed. It stirred in his heart an emotion so sharp, so fierce he knew naught else that he wished to protect it—to protect _her_ —truly above all else. The feeling left him weak, as if a sudden strike to his senses was laid bare; he dared to feel overcome from it all.

Pulling himself from his reverie he thought to move the bed covers to better cover Ahlis as she slept. _She would be too cold without them_ , he thought, knowing it to be true with her susceptibility to the chill of Ishgard’s snow and ice despite the considerable warmth of the fire. Aymeric carefully bent forward and grasped the book upon her chest to set it aside upon the bedside table when suddenly her eyes snapped open and her whole body jolted from her slumber, gasping in her confusion of half-awake, half-sleep shock of being awoken.

“Oh…oh, it’s you,” Ahlis said weakly, the sensations from being startled from her rest subsiding, hands moving to her face as she rubbed her eyes and her cheeks.

“Forgive me for startling you,” Aymeric spoke gently in return, the guilt of having woken her so poorly evident in his voice.

He closed shut the book which he had taken from her and finally set it aside as Ahlis began to wake up, blinking her eyes for a moment before sighing and looking once more at him.

“I tried to wait for you downstairs, in the parlor,” she began as she slowly pushed herself to sit upright. “The hour wasn’t very late, but then the weather took a turn for the worse.”

Aymeric listened and said nothing as he sat himself upon the same side where she had fallen asleep but closer to the far corner of the bed.

“I was offered a room for the night, and it seemed the right thing to do instead of walking in such weather, not to mention to avoid the hassle of summoning a carriage...”

“Of course, you are always welcome to stay here at my home, however,” Aymeric couldn’t help his curiosity; he knew the story mustn’t have ended there. “This is my bedroom.”

Surely his manservant would not have led her to such bed chambers and at his inquiry Ahlis couldn’t help but slouch just a touch under the bed covers, her eyes heavy-lidded as she cast her gaze sidelong.

“You’re going to laugh at me.”

“Now why would I ever do that?”

 Ahlis looked back at him again, her expression one of slight reluctance.

“I was offered a room—and it was quite fine for me—however, just as I had finished setting the first of my things aside your cat had taken the bed for his own!”

Ahlis then went into an entire tirade about how she didn’t mind it at first but no matter what she did the feline would not move. She tried pulling the covers, nudging (gently, of course) with a pillow to encourage the animal to move, and nothing. The story ended after she describing a final effort in trying to reach and pick up the feline but stopped as soon as the cat hissed and even gave her a small swipe with its paw.

“And that is the reason why I retreated into your room, as mine had been wholly taken over by that cantankerous creature.”

Aymeric, who had not said a word during the entire story, now sat facing her with his hand placed upon his mouth as if he was trying to contemplate how to respond. Ahlis knew better than that, unfortunately, as she gave him a withered look.

“I know you want to laugh, all right? Just do it and be done with it.”

“No, no on the contrary,” he replied but his tone was hardly convincing. He may not have fallen into the gentle laughter Ahlis knew him for, but he must have been quite amused by her adventures with the real “master of the manor”. “’Tis true that Mandragora goes where he pleases with little regard for others.”

“Besides you, naturally!” Ahlis said with a small huff. “Mandragora…what a fitting name.”

Aymeric smiled, his affection for both her, and his irritable but still lovable cat, coloring his expression.

“I will check the guest bedroom myself and see to it he does not disturb you for the rest of the night,” Aymeric rose from his seat on the bed and Ahlis watched as he retreated from the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him.

It wasn’t until he had put a good measure of distance between himself and his friend who awaited his return that he laughed with a small shake of his head.

**Author's Note:**

> I dedicate this drabble to aymeric-the-blue for being my good friend & allowing me usage of their personal head canon for Aymeric's cat having the name Mandragora.


End file.
